BILL NUMBER: AB 2558	CHAPTERED  09/24/00

	CHAPTER   597
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 24, 2000
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 29, 2000
	PASSED THE SENATE   AUGUST 28, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JUNE 14, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 26, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 25, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MARCH 30, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Hertzberg
   (Coauthor:  Assembly Member Shelley)

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2000

   An act to add and repeal Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section
9520) of Division 8.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating
to aging, and making an appropriation therefor.

      (Approved by Governor September 22, 2000.  Filed with
Secretary of State September 24, 2000.)

   On this date I signed Assembly Bill 2558 with a reduction.
   AB 2558 would establish a 3-year neighborhood-based pilot program
administered by the California Commission on Improving Life through
Services (CILTS), to promote the involvement of senior volunteers in
working with children and school staff.
   While I am supportive of incorporating senior volunteerism into
state volunteer efforts coordinated by CILTS, the program outlined in
this bill merits further study.  Therefore, I am directing CILTS to
(1) prepare a review of existing programs that engage seniors in
service, (2) identify new and promising entrepreneurial strategies
that take advantage of the unique characteristics of this new
generation of seniors, (3) identify priorities which a senior
volunteer force can best impact, and (4) propose a structure for
investment of any future financial resources which maximizes public
and private funding and social impact.  I expect this study to be
completed within six months.  Therefore, I am reducing the
appropriation contained in the bill by $900,000 to reflect the amount
needed to conduct this review.  The revised appropriation shall be
$100,000.
                                                 GRAY DAVIS, Governor


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2558, Hertzberg.  Senior Volunteer Pilot Program.
   Existing law requires the California Department of Aging to
administer a variety of senior programs, including those that promote
the use of seniors as volunteers in the community.
   This bill would require the California Commission on Improving
Life Through Service, in consultation with an advisory board
consisting of representatives of the State Department of Education,
the California Department of Aging, the Corporation for National
Service, and other public and private entities to establish a 3-year
intergenerational neighborhood-based pilot program consisting of a
minimum of 7 programs throughout the state, to promote senior
volunteers to work with children and school staff.
   This bill would appropriate $1,000,000 from the General Fund to
the commission for the implementation of this bill.
   Appropriation:  yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) California's senior citizens are the healthiest, most
vigorous, and well-educated senior population in history and are a
reservoir of experience, practical knowledge, and lasting values.
   (b) Americans aged 50 to 75 years ranked community service second
in priority only to travel in a recent survey, titled "The New Face
of Retirement," by Peter D. Hart Research Associates.
   (c) Continued involvement in productive activity and the presence
of strong social networks are the two most important factors
contributing to prolonged well-being later in life, according to a
decade-long inquiry by the MacArthur Foundation into successful
aging.
   (d) Retirement vastly increases free time.  Upon retirement, men
gain an added 25 hours per week of free time and women gain an added
18 hours per week of free time.
   (e) The aging of the "Baby Boomer" generation will lead to a
tripling of the number of Californians over 65 years of age.  This
segment of the population is expected to increase from 3.1 million
persons in 1990 to 10.1 million persons in 2030.
   (f) Although the Hart Survey found that 55 percent of older
Americans want to volunteer more while only 4 percent want to
volunteer less, volunteering currently falls off sharply after
retirement.
   (g) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to establish an
Experience Corps pilot program to engage the time, talents, and
skills of California seniors.  It is further the intent of the
Legislature, that through the program, seniors will assist staff at
schools by serving as tutors, mentors, and role models for school
children in need.
  SEC. 2.  Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 9520) is added to
Division 8.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

      CHAPTER 6.5.  SENIOR VOLUNTEER PILOT PROGRAM

   9520.  The California Commission on Improving Life Through
Service, in consultation with an advisory board consisting of
representatives of the State Department of Education, the California
Department of Aging, the Corporation for National Service,
representatives of either the federal Retired Senior Volunteer
Program or the federal Foster Grandparent Program, and
representatives of Civic Ventures or one or more experts on
Experience Corps programs, shall establish a three-year
intergenerational neighborhood-based pilot program, consisting of a
minimum of seven programs throughout the state, to promote the use of
senior volunteers in working with children and school staff.
Programs shall be designed and implemented by partnerships of
organizations whose membership makes significant contributions and
brings expertise in the areas of education, tutoring, and mentoring
both in school and after-school venues and mobilizing and supporting
senior volunteers.  No less than 50 percent of local programs
selected for funding shall be operated by partnerships that have
existing National Senior Service Corps programs acting as the legal
applicant.  Local program selection criteria will include the
strength and breadth of the partnership and its coordination with
existing senior volunteer programs in those communities where they
exist.  The program shall commence operation in March 2001, and
terminate in March 2004.
   9521.  The pilot program established pursuant to this chapter
shall be based upon the best practices of existing Experience Corps
programs such as the Sunset Neighborhood Beacon Center Experience
Corps in San Francisco.
   9522.  The advisory board specified in Section 9520 shall adopt
criteria to determine the effectiveness of the program required by
this chapter.
   9523.  This chapter shall become inoperative on September 30,
2004, and, as of January 1, 2005, is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute that is enacted before January 1, 2005, deletes or extends
the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
  SEC. 3.  There is hereby appropriated the sum of one million
dollars ($1,000,000) from the General Fund to the California
Commission on Improving Life Through Service for the purpose of
implementing the pilot program established pursuant to Chapter 6.5
(commencing with Section 9520) of Division 8.5 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code.
